Tag Archives: Jesus’ Love

Those of us who are parents have always wanted to meet some characters called: They,Them, and their cousin Everybody! You know how it goes—“They” said it was o.k., Dad—-or it’s o.k. with “them”——or “But Mom, Everybody is wearing this or doing that!”

“They” are everywhere, and we even find “Them” in the church. “They” and “Them” make all the decisions. And usually cousin “Everybody” doesn’t much care for the decisions “They” made! They, Them, and Cousin Everybody!! We have a fundamental tendency, it seems, as human beings to divide the world into “Them” and “Us” .

That’s what the disciples are doing in the text above. We can almost hear the panic (and the pride also) in the disciples voices when they say: “Jesus! Jesus! We saw Them. They’re out there. And They are doing miracles and curing people of demons, and maybe even preaching in Your Name! And Jesus, we’re sure—we’re absolutely sure—they’re Them. We know they’re Them, because they are not Us. And so we stopped them!!!”

If the disciples were expecting a pat on the back from Jesus for this they were very disappointed. Jesus was not happyabout what they had done. On the contrary, he probably was driven to tears of anger at their shortsightedness and pride, because he gave them one of the sharpest rebukes ever given to his disciples. “Don’t stop them! He says. “There is not Them. There’s only Us! And no one who does any good work in the power of my name should be thwarted from doing so. Whoever is not against us is for us!”

Jesus continued by stating that those who willfully erect “stumbling blocks”, whose actions hinder the progress of the “little ones” (read believers), are better off at the bottom of the sea with a millstone around their necks!

There is a verse in the Psalms—Psalm 56:8—-that says: God, you have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your record? (NRSV)

This Psalm is referring to the ancient practice, according to scholar James Fleming, of collecting one’s tears and preserving them in a “tear bottle” made of glass, many of which had a bulbous bottom and a long neck flared at the top to facilitate collecting the tears.

Some say that the woman of the streets (read prostitute) who bathed Jesus’ feet with her tears at the house of Simon the Pharisee may have actually been pouring out her own bottle of tears on his feet.

I see Jesus as a man who felt deeply!! As we just celebrated Father’s Day, I would suggest that he is a model for fathers today showing what a man should be and do as a father. . Jesus is a man who cried tears of compassion, of grief, of love, of anger.Jesus loved deeply, just as God loves deeply. And those who love deeply express deep emotions.

Jesus wept over many things

After his Triumphal Entry, he wept tears of compassionover Jerusalem, as they rejected him and the way of peace that he brought and chose instead a way of a military messiah that would result in the utter destruction of Israel by the Romans. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to it. How often I have desired to gather you as a hen gathers her brood under her wings—and you were not willing…”

Jesus wept tears of griefas he saw the grief of the family of his friend Lazarus at his death.

He wept tears of anger, I’m sure, at the sight of those who took advantage of the “little ones”—-the poor, the weak, the young, the elderly, the sick, the lepers, the outcasts of society. As always, Jesus’ anger is for any one who took advantage of or failed to help the “others”, the “little ones”—-the poor, the weak, the young, the old, the sick, the outcast.

He wept tears of frustration, I’m sure, at the failure of his disciples to grasp what His mission was about as the “suffering servant” Messiah. and their failure to grasp the significance of the Kingdom of God that he proclaimed.

He wept tears of anguish in the Garden of Gethesemane, as he prayed that “this cup might pass”, but nevertheless promised to do God’s will.

We have pointed at some of the tears that may have been in Jesus’ tear bottle. But today the question is: What is in my tear bottle? what is in yours?

When I was a child it was widely taught to young boys that “Men do not cry!” I was lucky to have a father who didn’t teach me that. He didn’t cry often, but one of the times I do remember seeing him cry was over the way the church was treating the present minister. He was an Elder in the Christian Church in Abilene, and came home from a board meeting and cried as he told my mother about it. So, I learned a different lesson as a boy—that there is nothing wrong about crying in compassion with other human beings.

But the question is: “ What makes us cry??” What turns on our eye faucets and tear pumps? What makes our eyes tear up and our cheeks get damp? Is it crying tears over injustice to others? Crying tears of compassion for others? Crying genuine heart-and –soul tears over the plight of the world and our fellow human beings? Is that it? In other words is our crying based on the kinds of attitudes and activities that brought tears to Jesus’ eyes?

What makes you sad? What makes mesad? What makes me glad? What makes you glad? What makes you angry? What makes me angry? Those are the questions we should be asking ourselves.

What tears are in your tear bottle, Christian? What tears are in my tear bottle, pastor?

As I thought about these questions I decided that I would “go first” in answering them. But I invite you to think about what is in your tear bottles as I share what might be in mine as I look at my life and ministry…..

I have often cried tears of grief, as I conducted funerals and saw the deep grief of those who have lost a loved one. I share that grief and their tears.

I have cried tears of frustration when I left the room of an elderly person in a nursing home whose family seldom visits and whose life is being “warehoused” by the system.

I have cried tears of anger when I read about how the elderly and the poor are forced to choose between paying for medicine and a doctor or pay for food. Or when I read that those who have worked hard all their lives and saved are rendered bankrupt by their inability to pay medical bills because they can’t get health insurance. A life-threatening and very expensive illness strikes and they must choose between life and bankruptcy! Something is terribly wrong with a faith community that keeps quiet about that!! Those who decry health care availability for all makes me cry for the church and those who call themselves Christians who do not seem to feel their pain and strive to alleviate it.

I cried tears of grief, I remember, when I first saw the Vietnam Wall—grief for the loss of all those young men and women whose names are recorded there and for what their lives might have meant to their families and to our society. And I cry tears of grief today as I read about those who die in Iraq and Afghanistan and Palestine. So much human life squandered and human potential not allowed to develop!

I cry tears of compassion with the one who is facing end of life and being placed in hospice and who feels frightened about what is happening to him or her.

I cry tears of compassion, but also of anger, when I see pictures of children in Africa who have bloated bellies and sticks for limbs due to hunger while the adults of their country spend the money meant for food to buy arms to kill each other! And the same for children in America who have no health care, not enough to eat, and when they come into the Lord’s Diner for a meal cannot respond normally but look at me with dull eyes and no expression.

I cry tears of frustration as I watch a mind being wasted by Alzheimers Disease, or a body wasted by cancer and then read of cuts in funding for research for cures for those problems while millions go the oil companies. I cry tears of anger when I hear of the terrible prices exacted for cancer drugs by the drug companies that force those suffering with cancer to choose between life and bankruptcy.

I cry tears of —what—Frustration? Compassion? Grief? When I look out on this sanctuary on Sunday morning and see all the empty pews that could be full of people praising God and going forth to serve him this week—if we would but get on fire for Jesus Christ and invite and bring them here. Most people come to church the first time, research shows, when someone in the congregation invites them. When have you done that? Why not?

I cry tears of compassion when I see children growing up outside the church, without its teachings and without a knowledge of Jesus Christ, because their parents just don’t care!

I cry tears of joy as I dedicate a baby and its parents to bring it up in the church and teachings of Jesus.

I cry tears of joy when I baptize someone.

I cry tears of joy as I pronounce a couple husband and wife at their wedding.

Those are some of the tears in my tear bottle? So what do you cry for Christian? Now it is your turn!!

What makes us cry, church? Is our crying based on the kinds of things that brought tears to the eyes of Jesus? What makes us cry, Church? Fellow Christians, what makes you cry!

I have come to believe that there is a linkage between suffering and love. They inhabit the same deep place in our souls. If we did not love there would be no suffering and grief, there would be no crying.

We suffer and hurt and weep for our children late into the night because we love them.

Our children get homesick when they go away to school or camp, because they love their homes and their parents.

We shed tears over someone’s death, because we loved them and loved being with them.

To not cry is to never deeply and fully love !!

Jesus wept because Jesus loved.. Does the church of Jesus Christ weep because they love? What makes you cry, Church?

Frederick Beuchner, in “Whistling in the Dark” says: “Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention to them. They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not, God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and is summoning you to where you should go next.”

Some of you will remember the trio of Peter, Paul and Mary that was popular during the 1960’s. Paul wrote a song entitled “For the Love of it All”. I’d like to quote some of his lyrics in closing:

I am reposting this for Mother’s Day from last year and will do so each year. Hope you enjoy reading it as a reminder.

There is a common answer given by most people who have performed an heroic, life-threatening deed in order to save another human being. In response to the inevitable question by a TV report asking “What did you feel when you were doing that?” the answer is usually “I really felt nothing.”

For example, a stranger who helped pull three children from a burning car answered the question about how he felt with the words: “I didn’t even think about it. It was happening so fast, and I knew I just had to get them out of there.” Another example is the mother who lifted a tree that had pinned her son’s leg: “I didn’t even feel how heavy it was—-until I put it down.”

You see, when love, care, and compassion for another take over completely, it is expressed in actions, not feelings. Love is action! Genuine love always leaps before it looks!

That is exactly the love we celebrate on Mother’s Day this coming weekend—love in action.Love is the force behind all the meals Mom prepares and prepared for us; love is behind the chauffered trips to soccer, baseball, ballet, piano lesson, etc. Love is behind all of those good-night books read to sleepy children by a tired mom at the end of a long day; love is behind all the walks and talks—-and all the other things that Mom’s do today and did in the past. Our mothers may have not told us they loved us very often, but we knew from their actions as we look back on them how much they did love and care for us and still do if we are blessed enough to still have them with us.

So—on Mother’s Day try to do something that shows how much you love and appreciate your mother. Don’t just tell her we love her, but DO SOMETHING TO SHOW YOUR LOVE.!

Shortly before Jesus’ death he gave his disciples a new commandment (See John 13:31-35) He told them to “show your love”. He said “Love one another as I have loved you.” He said, “By your love for each other they will know you are my disciples.” And the love Jesus recommended was action oriented. Jesus showed people his care for them by healing, teaching, and showing them his compassion—not just talking about it!

How do we measure up to this commandment of love—-by our actions—not our words.

Let me give you an example from my own life. One Christmas, not too long after our daughter Lisa was married, my wife (now deceased) and I received a frame letter from her. It says, in part…

“THANK YOU….

…for staying together. there are so few children today who have two parents. Through your commitment to each other in good times and bad times you have taught me that love does not give up and it does not leave. I saw modeled in you that love is a choice, not always a feeling.

…thank you for lots of hugs and love. You taught me that showing affection is a good thing and that I should never be embarrassed to say “I love you”. Your affection shown to one another assured me that all was well in the world…

…Thank you, Mom and Dad, for patiently persevering and loving me unconditionally even when I was the most stubborn and difficult to be around. The love, sacrifice, and commitment you have shown me has not gone unnoticed.

…You have laid a foundation in my life of security, confidence and love that has enabled me to love and be loved. I am seeing the value of this foundation in my marriage and also in my most important relationship with God….”

This framed letter is one of my most important possessions. It shows how love for each other influences those around us, including our children.

ARE WE DOING THIS? Not always! As this story indicates:

The story is told about a Los Angeles police officer who pulled a driver over to the side of the freeway and asked for his license and registration.

“No you weren’t speeding or breaking any laws, the officer said: “but I saw you flashing the one-fingered salute as you swerved around the lady who was driving too slow in the center lane, and I further observed your flushed and angry face as you shouted unprintable things at the driver of the Hummer who cut you off, and I saw how you pounded your steering wheel when the freeway traffic ground to a halt.”

“Is that a crime, officer?”

“No, but when I saw the “JESUS LOVES YOU AND SO DO I” bumper sticker on your car, I figured, “This car has go to be stolen!”